As a food-safety precaution within the coronavirus pandemic, Coast Produce Co., Inc. earlier this year began offering to its retail customers served by the firm’s Los Angeles facility overwrapped trays of product.  Ryan Jacobsen, Coast’s sales manager in it’s modern Nogales facility, said the positive reception from customers has brought about additional growth and the Nogales division will soon be offering the tray-wrap program to customers loading directly in Nogales as well. New packing equipment in the Nogales facility is in place and ready for this season.

In other news, Zack Ortiz has

Seeded Produce is engaged in its first full season of operation.

The firm was founded in the spring by Omar Losolla, who is a 20-year veteran of the Nogales produce business.

The new company has started office and warehouse operations in Nogales’ Wilson Produce facility.

Losolla is offering a wide array of Mexican produce to make Seeded a one-stop shop for his customers.

He is working with independent growers, most of whom he’s known for many years. They pack in the bright pink Seeded produce box.

Losolla said all growers operate with top-level food-safety certifications. Some of the

How do you pay your bills? Do you write checks with percentages on them? No. They have dollars and cents. People can’t spend a percentage.

From produce manager up to director, this business has taught me a lot. As a produce director I learned that every time we achieved the budgeted gross profit, we were always handed a bigger budget for the following year.

Every year the gross profit budget kept rising higher and higher. It was getting to a point where our ad strength was getting weaker. This was caused by skimping on the lead produce items that generated substantial sales. We were at a

Sbrocco International Inc., the well-known produce importer and distributor headquartered in Mt. Laurel, NJ, has launched a new website to provide a wealth of information quickly and efficiently to its customers.

The new site (www.sbrocco.com) was launched in early November, according to Maclaren Oglesby, sales manager at the company, who led the team in developing the new website.

Asked why the company decided to develop the new site, Oglesby replied Friday, Nov. 13, "We felt it was necessary to meet our customers where they are, and how they want to receive information -- on their time

This holiday season family gatherings will look a little different than past years. A survey conducted by the research firm Morning Consult found that 47 percent of families say they will cancel holiday get-togethers. Almost half say they will shift from in-person celebrations to virtual.

Since this is the Idaho potato industry’s busiest time of year, what does this mean for potato sales? “We know that potatoes are the most popular side dish on the Thanksgiving table, and we don’t expect that to change," explained Frank Muir, president and CEO, Idaho Potato Commission. “We anticipate that

Tune in this Sunday, Nov. 22 at 8pm ET/7pm CT/5pm PT as Blake LaGrange, one of the featured contestants in the Viva Fresh Clean Eating challenge and regular blog contributor, hosts a live Q&A broadcast with one of his early mentors in the produce business, Rich Dachman of Brighter Bites.

“Rich has been encouraging our produce industry professionals to 'Live our Business' for years," said LaGrange. "In multiple public speaking engagements, Rich has told us that we need to live the lifestyle of what we grow and sell and show the world that fresh produce is an extremely important part of our